In message <199811190018.TAA19938@zygorthian-space-raiders.mit.edu>, "Charles M
. Hannum" writes:
>> Huh?  How is speed any less useful information than the type of CPU?
>
>The kernel actually changes how it operates (to some degree) depending
>on the type of CPU.  It does not do so based on the actual speed of
>the CPU.

Okay, that certainly makes sense.  I was thinking of utility from the
standpoint of the user, not the kernel. 

>That means any code in the kernel which does this is effectively dead
>weight.  That's why *I* never implemented it.

Would anyone object to adding something similiar to what FreeBSD has
that does the (apparently) trivial case for 586 and 686 class CPUs?